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Promising Practices

The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.

The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.

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Choosing Healthy And Rewarding Meals (CHARM) School Program (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Choosing Healthy and Rewarding Meals (CHARM) School Program is to promote healthy eating habits and teach life skills.

Chronic Disease Care Management Program (Somerset County, NJ)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Older Adults

Goal: A key goal of this program is to help clients continue to reside at home, despite serious chronic conditions.

Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the CDSMP is to improve personal management of chronic disease.

Chronic Lead Poisoning Team Intervention Program (Milwaukee, WI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goals of this program are to identify children at risk for chronic lead poisoning, to decrease blood lead levels in chronically poisoned children, and to help families find stable, lead-free housing.

Class Wide Peer Tutoring Program (Kansas City, KS)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve school performance through reciprocal peer tutoring.

Community Aging in Place - Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Adults, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: CAPABLE is a 5-month structured home visit program delivered by an occupational therapist (OT), a registered nurse (RN), and a handyman to improve daily function in older adults and to lower the monthly average Medicaid expenditure and likelihood of costly healthcare services.

Impact: This study demonstrates that home visit programs can improve the daily quality of life in aging adults. Additionally, they can lead to a reduction in Medicaid expenditures via lower inpatient costs and lower long-term care costs.

Community Asthma Prevention Program (Philadelphia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Community Asthma Prevention Program is to provide a community-driven asthma management program in order to increase asthma awareness and knowledge, and to increase the quality of life of those living with asthma.

Community Based Mentoring Program: Palm Beach (Palm Beach and Martin, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to make a positive difference in the lives of children, primarily through professionally guided one-to-one relationships with caring adults, and to assist them in achieving their highest potential, as they grow to become confident, competent and caring individuals.

Community Corrections Program (Tazewell, Va.)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Adults, Rural

Goal: The goal of the Community Corretions Program is to provide an alternative to incarceration by providing counseling to the offender and organizing integration back into the community through community service activities.

Community Gardens Program (San Antonio)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Families

Goal: The Community Gardens Program aims to improve the health of the residents of San Antonio and the environment by creating community gardens, which provide a place for gathering, exercising, and learning, as well as preserving San Antonio’s green space.

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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